During the opening phase of Veritable, on 8 Feb 45, the Regiment de Maisonneuve lost only a few soldiers killed in the attack on De Heuvel; one of them was the young Pte Lacoste (KIA). I recently got hold of the Regimental History of the Maisonneuves and learned from this, that Pte Lacoste was killed by shellfire while escorting four POW's to the rear from Hochstrasze. Lacoste was the bat-man of Lieutenant Boisclair, who wanted him out of harm's way and therefore let him escort the POW's back; Lacoste had just returned from a short furlough to France, where he got engaged with a French girl he had met earlier. See: Op Veritable: the Canadian attack on Wyler & Den Heuvel, 8 Feb 1945 According to the Regt History, a Belgian volunteer, named Alexandre Vermeire, who accompanied Lacoste, was killed in the same shelling. Vermeire had joined the Maisonneuves earlier, in Sept 1944. I wonder if anyone has any idea where this Belgian volunteer has been buried. I cannot find him on the CWGC-site. It could be that the spelling of the name is wrong, might be Alexander Vermere or Vermeer
Stolpi, this is the closest I can find on Findagrave but isn't right Alexander Vermeire (1908 - 1945) - Find A Grave Memorial Maybe Tricky can double check, but I couldn't see anything on Ancestry either.
I have already tried looking for that exact date and against the widest parameter for his surname possible in all Ancestry collections - and didnt even come up with the link you found above TD added I would guess it might need someone who can access Belgium records??
In the meantime, I've learned that all the Belgian war deads (volunteers in Allied units; Brigade Piron etc.) were brought back to their own country - is there a register of war dead in Belgium. (Also noticed that his last name could have been Vermeiren)
Hello Pieter, If, for example, he was Jewish or his family were still in German captivity, he may have fought under a pseudonym. He is not on the Roll of Honour: http://www.ancienscombattantsquebecois.com/maisonneuve.pdf as Alexandre Vermeiren. Is this a possibility? Best, Steve.
I had a look at Rootschat to see what research tools they use for genealogy and doesn't look good. This was a reply given back in 2015. "There is no central authority for bmds in Belgium, they were kept by each commune. There are also quite strict privacy laws regulating access to certificates < 100 years old. (There might be places you could go if you were searching living persons for legal reasons, i.e. lawyer looking for heirs to an estate, but I don't know those). If you know the specific area, my recommendation would be to check all the late 1890s/early 1900s, family births for any marginal notes that tell you where/when a person married and died. These dates may well be available online, depending on precise location - either at search.arch.be or on familysearch or both. Note that familysearch has a large number of Belgian records which are not name indexed and cannot be searched from the top page, they must be viewed as images and you must know the exact location to do so. That will hopefully get you forward sufficiently to start searching the phone book. Also check http://www.geneanet.org/ in case somebody else is researching the same family (lots of French/Belgium genealogists on this site). You only need a free account to search on surname + location, which I find is generally enough".
Hi , I saw the message about the Belgian volonteer VERMEIRE Alexandre. For what its worth I found that he initialy was burried at the Groesbeek cemetery, but after his name is a handwritten note that his remains should be transfered to another place 23-08-1947. So Probably he is now burried in the village he was born of lived at the time he died. With Regards, Frans
Hi, at this stage its just hunch that the VERMEIRE Alex mentioned on this monument of Uccle is the person You are searching for. I will look in to it asap, because VERMEIRE is also in a project of my own. So to be continued..........
Today received the answer about the grave of VERMEIRE and I know allready the cemetery, so when I have a opportunity I will go to there and make some pics .
Frans - If it is the Alex Vermeire we're looking for, it would be good to get a picture of his headstone ... so that it can be added to the Wyler - Den Heuvel thread: Op Veritable: the Canadian attack on Wyler & Den Heuvel, 8 Feb 1945
I think so to. Most likely VERMEIRE remains at first were transfered from Groesbeek to the Dieweg Cemetery of Ukkel , but somewere in 1988 they moved the military graves to the Verrewinkel cemetery where they are still today. I will go there and make some pics but have to do that together with some other research, because just driving there for just one grave is making no sense , because of the distance etc. But it will come .
Welcome, I did ask if there was a date known of burrial of VERMEIRE and just received ''Begraving op 24/03/1949'' And in this case directly from Groesbeek to Ukkel Verrewinkel, so NOT first burried at Dieweg cemetery. Sometimes research can be very confusing.......